Kosovo scenario may repeat in Slovakia, leader

[Crvena zvezda]

Kosovo scenario may repeat in Slovakia, leader
May 21, 2007 2:15 PM
Bratislava (CTK) - Some ethnic Hungarians are seeking political autonomy in southern Slovakia, Jan Slota, leader of the ultra-nationalist Slovak junior ruling National Party (SNS), told journalists today. In the future, Slovakia can lose its part as Serbia did in the case of Kosovo, in which Albanians prevail, Slota added.
"Some people from the ethnic Hungarian minority in Slovakia are starting a campaign for political autonomy," Slota said. He said that various T-shirts and printed material with a map of the area in question were evidence of this.
Serbia was in the same situation two or three years ago, when Kosovo obtained comprehensive autonomy, Slota said.
At present, the decision is to be made on whether Kosovo will become an independent country, while some European countries and the USA have spoken on behalf of independent Kosovo, Slota said. Something similar may happen in Slovakia in the future, he added.
Slota reacted to the information on a petition being launched for compensation to the people afflicted by the post-war degrees issued by Czechoslovak president Edvard Benes, on the basis of which ethnic Germans and Hungarians, except for those who themselves suffered under the Nazis, were deported from the country and their property was confiscated.
The Hungarian Coalition Party (SMK), representing some 500,000 ethnic Hungarians, mostly inhabiting southern regions in the 5-million Slovakia, have repeatedly denied any plan to seek autonomy. They only insist on the development of ethnic Hungarians' mother tongue in the sphere of education and culture.
"No part of the SMK...has participated in a campaign for autonomy. If SNS agents are doing so, I have no influence on it," SMK chairman Pal Csaky said in Kosice, east Slovakia, today.
Former PM Mikulas Dzurinda, chairman of the opposition Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU-DS), criticised Slota's statements. The SNS can offer no long-term programme to voters, and this is why the party "is seeking its agenda" attacking the Hungarian minority representatives, said Dzurinda.